Category Archives: Keiko Kobayashi

There are many ways we can participate in peace ministry. Recently, I had an extraordinary experience. I took a group to a showing of the film, Jun-Ai. The film tells the story of Japanese settlers abandoned in China, the day Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. The Chinese had been suffering under Japanese rule, and the abandoned Japanese were now in deep trouble. In the film, one of the Japanese changes the lives of all she meets, gradually, through patience, love, and kindness.

For this showing of Jun-Ai, the Japanese Culture Club of Arizona partnered with the filmmaker’s US Representative to bring the film to the Arizona Historical Society Museum. The filmmaker, Keiko Kobayashi, even made a personal appearance. In the room, we had Japanese people, Japanese Americans, Anglos, and even a group of 20 Chinese Americans. Gradually, people shared their stories. Some of the JapaneseAmericans had been interned in the camps for Japanese Americans in Arizona during World War II. One had been interned there, but he volunteered to serve in Army Intelligence and went to work for the US forces. A prominent Phoenix surgeon, born in China in 1942, told of his mother’s efforts to save him from the invading Japanese. She dressed him as a girl to prevent his being bayonetted. In the conversation, we became simply… people. We moved into UNITY in our humanity, together with our mutual passion for a peaceful world.

After the film, in the restroom, a Chinese American woman excitedly told me of an error of nuance, in the way a Japanese actor in the film was pronouncing a word in Chinese. In a grocery store, I doubt she would have tried to express her thoughts to me. But the intense shared emotional experiences of the film had made us all sisters and brothers in the Family of Humanity. She knew I—although Anglo, blonde, and blue-eyed—was listening. She knew I cared. We were family.

Keiko KobayashiPhoto by Rev. Kebba Buckley Button

Here is AGNT’s contemplation for Day 40 of the SNV:

DAY 40 Mar. 10: The thought for today is UNITY. Differences give variety to life and are often only on the surface. Most communities are made of diverse groups of people who have different opinions, who look different, and who speak many different languages. Our challenge is to see beyond outer differences in opinions and appearances and find a meeting point of underlying unity that exists in diversity. There is peace and nonviolence in unity as we recognize who we are in others, a transformation from separateness to unity.

Today: I will look for three ways to see beyond outer differences in opinions, appearances, or goals. I will seek out someone who looks different from me; looking beyond these outer differences I will see the unity which is inside and journal about what I have discovered.

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● Kebba Buckley Button is the author of the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition). It’s a book to keep with you constantly, to quickly recharge your Peace Within, with quotes, photos, and poems that take you directly there! Kebba is a corporate stress management trainer, and she also has a holistic healing practice.

● Liked this article? Why not buy Kebba’s books? Just click the links!

There are many ways we can participate in peace ministry. Today, I had an extraordinary experience. I took a group to a showing of the film, Jun-Ai. The film tells the story of Japanese settlers abandoned in China, the day Japan surrendered at the end of World War II; in it, one of the Japanese changes the lives of all she meets, gradually, through patience, love, and kindness.

The Japanese Culture Club of Arizona partnered with the filmmaker’s US Representative to bring this showing to the Arizona Historical Society Museum. The filmmaker, Keiko Kobayashi, even made a personal appearance. In the room, we had Japanese people, Japanese-Americans, Anglos, and even a group of 20 Chinese-Americans. Gradually, people shared their stories. Some had been interned in the camps for Japanese Americans in Arizona during World War II. One had been interned, but he volunteered to serve in Army Intelligence and went to work for the US forces. A prominent Phoenix surgeon, born in China in 1942, told of his mother’s efforts to save him from the invading Japanese; she dressed him as a girl to prevent his being bayonetted. In the conversation, we became simply… people. We moved into UNITY in our humanity, in our mutual passion for a peaceful world.

Here is AGNT’s meditation for Day 40 of the SNV:

DAY 40 Mar. 10: The thought for today is UNITY. Differences give variety to life and are often only on the surface. Most communities are made of diverse groups of people who have different opinions, who look different, and who speak many different languages. Our challenge is to see beyond outer differences in opinions and appearances and find a meeting point of underlying unity that exists in diversity. There is peace and nonviolence in unity as we recognize who we are in others, a transformation from separateness to unity.

Today: I will look for three ways to see beyond outer differences in opinions, appearances, or goals. I will seek out someone who looks different from me; looking beyond these outer differences I will see the unity which is inside and journal about what I have discovered.

———————————————

● Kebba Buckley Button is a minister and the award-winning author of the 2012 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core (http://tinyurl.com/abd47jr), and Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). She also has a natural healing and stress management practice and is a celebrated public speaker.

● This blog, Peaceful People, is the new home for Rev. Kebba’s articles and movie reviews about the SNV, nonviolence, peace within, and cultivating peace. Until 2/19/13, her SNV posts and peace movie reviews were at http://kebbabutton.wordpress.com, under the banner of UpBeat Living. Please enjoy those as time allows.